


The Confrontation

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 10:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tonks is in love with Remus Lupin. Only thing is, she hasn't told him, and she's not too sure of his feelings for her. She's just going to go in, tell him, and hope for the best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Confrontation

Nymphadora Tonks was stood outside of the door to the library of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Her hand was in a fist, hovering in front of the door, building up the courage to knock. Inside of the room was Remus Lupin, the man that Tonks wanted to see.  
“You can do this,” she muttered to herself. “He’s just a guy. It’s never stopped you before.” Which was true. Tonks wasn’t exactly an introvert - quite the opposite in fact, so the fact that Remus Lupin made her nervous was a big deal.  
It had been almost a year since she had met Remus, six months since she had realised she had a crush on him, and one month since she had realised she was in love with him.  
Of course, Tonks had had crushes before. She had even thought she was in love before, but now she realised that she was wrong. She had never felt this way about anyone before. She had never become flustered because she had made eye contact with him. Never had she tripped up so much in the presence of one person. She had never had to morph away her blush when she was just addressed directly from him. But she did with Remus.  
She had resolved to just ignore it; push the feelings away and have no harm done, but it wasn’t as simple as that. Having to be in the same room as someone for at least an hour every day for an Order meeting made it hard to ignore your feelings.  
So this was it. The day Tonks had decided to face up to her feelings and just do it. But apparently, that was easier said than done. What also didn’t help is that different members of the Order of the Phoenix kept walking past her, meaning that she had to squeeze against a wall whenever they went past.  
It was the second time Molly Weasley walked past and gave her an odd look, wondering why Tonks was in the same place she had been when she had walked past half an hour ago, that she went for it. She lifted her hand up, knocked on the door, and waited for it to open.  
The door swung open and Remus Lupin appeared in the doorway. He seemed tired and stressed, and Tonks remembered that the full moon was next week. She immediately chastised herself for going to see him - as if he didn’t have enough to worry about as it was.  
“Nymphadora,” he said, smiling as if seeing her had been the best thing to happen to him that day.  
“Remus,” she said, smiling slightly. She did not tell him not to call her by her first name, for she didn’t mind it when he said it. She hesitated a little, then went on. “May I come in?”  
“Of course,” he answered, stepping sideways so that Tonks could go through.  
She glanced around the room, and she saw an armchair with a book on the armrest, which Tonks assumed was the one Remus had just vacated. She thought about whether she should sit down, but decided against it.  
“Remus, I…” she trailed off uncertaintly. She took a deep breath and started again. “I have something I need to tell you.”  
“What is it?” asked Remus, looking at her worriedly.  
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad or anything,” she said, reading his expression. She got lost in his eyes for a second, and she allowed herself to think that maybe, just maybe, Remus felt the same way about her. Then she looked away and realised how stupid that thought was. What would he - a quiet, calm professor - see in her - a loud, outgoing Auror?  
She took a step closer to him, avoiding eye contact. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I don’t really know how to go about this. I’ve never really been in this sort of situation before, you see,” she said, chancing a glance at him. He looked confused.  
“I mean, I’ve had boyfriends before, but I’ve never felt the way I feel about you. I’ve never wanted to hold their hand just because it’s free. I’ve never wanted to just spend all day looking after them whenever they’re ill. But I do with you. I feel like I just want to hug you and never let go. And-” she took another step towards him, so that there was hardly any space between them. “And I tried to repress it. I did. I knew you had enough on your mind. I honestly did try. But this feeling - this love inside of me - just feels like it’s bursting to get out. So I had to tell you. I get that you don’t feel the same way… I can deal with that. I just had to let you know.”  
She bit her lip, and muttered “What the hell,” and leaned in for a kiss. The split second of doubt that she had felt about whether the kiss would be reciprocated was washed away when she felt Remus’ lips come down on hers. She smiled, registering that his lips tasted like Honeydukes’ chocolate. After what could have been hours, or mere seconds, they broke apart.  
They both looked stunned for a second, until Tonks broke out into a grin. It disappeared when she registered Remus’ worried expression. “What’s wrong?” She asked him.  
He sighed and answered, “I can’t do this to you. You’re young and healthy. You deserve more than me, an old and weary man. I’m a werewolf - if that doesn’t make me dangerous, I don’t know what does.”  
“But- But I don’t care about any of that! There’s Wolfsbane, that means you aren’t dangerous on a full moon! I don’t give a damn about age, or anything like that. All I care about is right here and right now. And what right now is telling me is that I’m in love with you, and I think you love me too.”  
“I’m sorry, Nymphadora. I can’t do it. I don’t want to risk your health. You deserve somebody like you, your age, and healthy. Not me.”  
“Right… Right. Yeah,” she said, as she felt her morph slip, and could see her hair reach her shoulders and was the dull brown that she hated so much. She tried to morph it back to the short bubblegum pink she much preferred, but she couldn’t manage it. It felt like her world was crashing down around her; when he had kissed her back she thought that it meant that they were going to be happy - more importantly, together. But now Remus was attempting to be selfless, but he just ended up hurting Tonks more than anything he could do to her as a werewolf.  
She nearly dissolved into tears, but then she remembered that she was Tonks. And nobody saw Tonks cry. Not even Remus Lupin. “I should be going,” she muttered, heading to the door.  
As she reached the doorway, she turned around, took her wand out, and cast a Patronus - to this day she wasn’t sure how she did it, as there wasn’t one happy thought going through her mind - and a huge wolf came bounding out of the end of her wand. “It changed,” she said quietly. “Just thought you should know.”  
And with that, she left, and Remus rather thought that over the slam of the door, he heard a sob.


End file.
